Sanjay Singh, Anita Sheoran Favourites For WFI President's Post

Withdrawal of candidates makes election a two-way race

Updated on: 5 August 2023 3:21 pm

The Indian wrestlers' protest earlier this year.

Either Sanjay Kumar Singh or 2010 CWG champion Anita Sheoran will become the next WFI President as it has become a two-way contest for the top post following withdrawal of other candidates.

UP Association Vice President Sanjay is a loyalist of the outgoing WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh while Anita is the lone woman in the fray for the August 12 polls.

Anita filed her nomination as representative of the Odisha unit even as she is from Haryana and employed with the state police.

Two other candidates in the fray for the top post, Dushyant Sharma (J&K) and another Brij Bhushan loyalist Jai Prakash (Delhi Wrestling Association President) withdrew their nominations on Saturday, according to source in the IOA ad-hoc committee.

The Returning Officer for the polls, former J&K High Court Judge Mahesh Mittal Kumar, will officially announce the final list of candidates in the fray on August 7.

Elections will be held for the posts of president (1), senior vice-president (1), vice-president (4), secretary-general (1), treasurer (1), joint secretary (2) and executive members (5).

Olympian Jai Prakash, who had filed his nominations for three posts, has also pulled out of the race for the post of secretary-general, leaving it a straight contest between Chandigarh's Darshan Lal from the Brij Bhushan camp, and Railway Sports Control Board (RSPB) secretary Prem Chand Lochab.

The contest for the post of treasurer too will be a two-way contest between Uttarakhand's Satya Pal Singh Deshwal (Uttarakhand) -- from the Brij Bhushan camp -- and Dushyant Sharma.

A source close to the Brij Bhushan camp said on condition of anonymity that 16 candidates from the group will contest all 15 posts, and expressed confidence that it will "emerge victorious".

"We are contesting for all 15 posts and of the 18 candidates who filed nominations from our camp, only two have been withdrawn. They are Haryana's Rakesh Kumar for the post of executive member and Jai Prakash from the post of president and secretary-general. However, Prakash will contest for the post of vice-president," he said.